How to Avoid Plagiarism

Citing Source Material

Citing means identifying for the reader the source of the quotation, paraphrase, or summary. There are two main types of citations: parenthetical in-text citations and notes (either footnotes or endnotes).

Parenthetical in-text citations

Shorthand references to the full bibliographical description of the source listed at the end of the student's paper. The author and date of publication are most important in the APA style. If there is an exact quote, then the page number should also be included.

Here's an example of an APA-style in-text citation:

In her book about toddlers, Alicia Lieberman (1993) does a good job of explaining their sometimes mystifying behavior.

Example APA Style Parenthetical In-Text Citation

The novelist says, "I feel deceived not by her but by appearances: how real they can be in my America" (Doctorow, 2000, p. 27).

Notes Bibliographical descriptions of the section of the resource used. Footnotes and endnotes, in general, are being replaced by the parenthetical citation but are still used in scholarly writing in the liberal arts (Gibaldi, 1999, p. 268).

Example Notes in Chicago/Turabian Style

Footnotes are placed at the bottom of the same page as the quote, paraphrase or summary so that the paper can be read all the way through without having to refer to the bibliography for more source information (Turabian, 1987, p. 121).

Example:

Generally, appearances are dismissed as misleading, but in City of God, the main character turns this notion on its head when he says, "I feel deceived not by her but by appearances: how real they can be in my America."1

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1 E. L. Doctorow, City of God (New York: Random House, 2000), 27.

Endnotes are listed on a separate page at the end of the paper. Endnotes, like footnotes, may include both bibliographical and content information. Endnotes are often used if a work contains several long content notes. A content note expands upon the thesis in the body of the paper without interrupting the train of thought (Turabian, 1987, pp. 122, 273).

Example:

1 Oscar Wilde is only one in a long line of social observers to mine the profundity of the surface. In the City of God, the main character says, "I feel deceived not by her but by appearances: how real they can be in my America" (E. L. Doctorow, City of God [New York: Random House, 2000], 27).

The Chicago/Turabian style is most frequently used with footnotes. The "Publication Manual of the APA" considers footnotes to be "distracting" and discourages their use unless absolutely necessary (2001, p. 202).